Person
Every book Katie Porter recommended on podcasts
Across 2 podcasts. Every show Katie Porter appears on, in one place — not just one.
Katherine Moore Porter is an American former politician who served as a U.S. representative from California from 2019 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, she was a candidate in the 2024 U.S. Senate election in California and the 2026 California gubernatorial election. She did not advance from the nonpartisan primary in either race, placing third and fifth, respectively. Her poor showing was blamed, in part, on negative media attention regarding allegations of abusive behavior towards her congressional staff. In July 2026 she implied that she was retiring from politics. Porter has recommended and discussed several books on podcasts that reflect her policy concerns and intellectual interests. She recommended the debut novel Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, highlighting its fascinating, mind-bending exploration of women and gender stereotypes. She also recommended Woodworking Tools by James M. Gaynor, which she checked out from the library, and Eldar Shafir's Scarcity, noting its valuable research on how bureaucratic hurdles affect vulnerable people. Additionally, Porter discussed Robert D. Putnam's works Our Kids and Bowling Alone, citing them as major influences on her view of community and collective responsibility.
Books recommended by Katie Porter
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Our Kids
Our Kids by Robert D.
Discussed“another book that made a powerful impact on me is called our kids by Robert Putnam who wrote sociology wrote Bowling Alone”
Where to get it
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Eighteenth-Century Woodworking Tools
Eighteenth-Century Woodworking Tools by James M.
Recommended“Woodworking by James. Did you guys publish this book? Yes, we did. Okay. So I didn't know that until yesterday that you guys had a publishing house. everybody who is interested in understanding what it's like to be a trans person and where different trans people can be in their journey and how people can help them and hurt them.”
Where to get it
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Scarcity
Scarcity by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir is a psychological exploration of how having too little of things like money or time shapes human thinking, decision-making, and behavior.
Recommended“so there's actually some really interesting research around this including work done by Elder Shaffir whose books scarcity I highly recommend”
Where to get it
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Yesteryear
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke is a contemporary debut novel that follows an online influencer known as a tradwife who suddenly wakes up inside the exact traditional world she has been posting and writing about.
Recommended“So, I would tell you that I think the banger book of the year that really encapsu- encapsulates in a fascinating, mind-bending way all of the frustration and rage that women and gender stereotypes put in onto us and that we have to navigate is Yesteryear, which is a fiction book. It just came out. It's a 36-hour stay up”
Where to get it
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Bowling Alone
Bowling Alone by Robert D.
Discussed“another book that made a powerful impact on me is called our kids by Robert Putnam who wrote sociology wrote Bowling Alone”
Where to get it
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ezra Klein Grills CA’s Possible Governors | The Ezra Klein Show | The Ezra Klein Show | 2026-05-09 | 1 |
| Trump’s BIZARRE Response to Assassination Attempt | Pod Save America | 2026-04-28 | 1 |
| Katie Porter Full Interview | Pod Save America | Pod Save America | 2018-12-25 | 4 |
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“another book that made a powerful impact on me is called our kids by Robert Putnam who wrote sociology wrote Bowling Alone and he talks about like back in his generation”